Boys Player of the Year: Bishop O'Dowd's Ivan Rabb

Updated 11:26 pm, Saturday, April 5, 2014

With recruiting season upon him, 6-foot-10 Ivan Rabb, right, is choosing among Arizona, Cal, Kansas, Kentucky and UCLA.

With recruiting season upon him, 6-foot-10 Ivan Rabb, right, is choosing among Arizona, Cal, Kansas, Kentucky and UCLA.

Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

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St. Ignatius, Trevor Dunbar, (10) sails to the basket past Joshua Fox, (3) in the first half, as St. Ignatius takes on Sacred Heart Cathedral in high school basketball in the Bruce-Mahoney basketball game at UCSF's War Memorial gym , in San Francisco, Ca., on Tuesday Jan. 10, 2012. less

St. Ignatius, Trevor Dunbar, (10) sails to the basket past Joshua Fox, (3) in the first half, as St. Ignatius takes on Sacred Heart Cathedral in high school basketball in the Bruce-Mahoney basketball game at ... more

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

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Ivan Rabb, a 6-foot-10 junior, leads Bishop O'Dowd-Oakland into Saturday's Open Division state championship game against unbeaten and three-time defending state champion Mater Dei-Santa Ana.

Ivan Rabb, a 6-foot-10 junior, leads Bishop O'Dowd-Oakland into Saturday's Open Division state championship game against unbeaten and three-time defending state champion Mater Dei-Santa Ana.

Photo: Dennis Lee, Max Preps

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Ivan Rabb, a 6-foot-10 junior, leads Bishop O'Dowd-Oakland into Saturday's Open Division state championship game against unbeaten and three-time defending state champion Mater Dei-Santa Ana.

Ivan Rabb, a 6-foot-10 junior, leads Bishop O'Dowd-Oakland into Saturday's Open Division state championship game against unbeaten and three-time defending state champion Mater Dei-Santa Ana.

Photo: Dennis Lee, Max Preps

Boys Player of the Year: Bishop O'Dowd's Ivan Rabb

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When Ivan Rabb was in the fifth grade playing on a youth basketball team in Oakland, he noticed that the other boys were shooting with their right hand.

Rabb is a southpaw. He eats, writes and throws with his left hand.

"It just seemed the thing to do, so I started shooting right-handed," he said.

Every step Rabb has made, it appears, has been right, and many believe the 6-foot-10, 210-pound post player from Bishop O'Dowd-Oakland - The Chronicle's All-Metro Player of the Year - is the best junior in the country.

ESPN.com ranks him No. 1 in the Class of 2015, and almost every recruiting service has him in its top five.

And, yes, some of that has to do with his being ambidextrous. He shoots free throws right-handed (74 percent), and he makes 30 percent of his left-handed shots.

Overall, he shot 65 percent from the field for the 28-5 Dragons while averaging more than 25 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks and leading his team to a CIF Northern California Open Division title.

They won 23 straight, by an average margin of 28.5 points, before being defeated in the state final last week by national No. 1 Mater Dei-Santa Ana (35-0).

Rabb is an obvious choice as Player of the Year, following in the footsteps of Mitty's Aaron Gordon, the only three-time winner and this year's Pac-12 Freshman of the Year at Arizona.

"By the time he's done, yes, I think he'll be mentioned with Aaron Gordon and Drew Gooden (El Cerrito) and all the area greats," O'Dowd coach Lou Richie said. "He could be even better. He's just so coachable and such a great kid. He's got no ego. He's humble. He wants to be better and learn.

"Whatever Ivan applies himself to, he's very, very successful."

Like switching hands, for instance. No easy feat. But Rabb - whose parents were both high school athletes and whose dad played college football - is able to adjust. And then work. And work some more.

"He's a perfectionist," Richie said. "He likes to do well in all things. He likes the details of things. He watches and is very, very perceptive. He doesn't miss anything. ... He's a practical joker, witty and very sharp."

After transferring from a public school in East Oakland to O'Dowd, Richie said Rabb struggled academically - at first. A 1.8 GPA his first semester improved to 2.8 his second. Now he's above 3.0.

Many of the top schools in the country are recruiting Rabb. North Carolina coach Roy Williams was at O'Dowd two days before the Mater Dei game.

"I'm going to take my time and make the right choice," said Rabb, who has received offers from Arizona, Cal, UCLA, Connecticut, Duke, Kansas and Kentucky. "I'll look more closely now that the season is over."

With Richie as a mentor, and close teammates like childhood friend Paris Austin to keep him humble, Rabb seems well equipped to avoid the pitfalls that come with being a top recruit. He keeps his cool whether he's being undercut by smaller players or heckled by opposing student bodies.

Before a January game, Berkeley students chanted "overrated" at Rabb. He never acknowledged the chorus and then had 27 points, 11 blocks, 10 rebounds, seven dunks and five assists in an 80-74 win. Rabb was 10-of-11 from the floor.

Austin, a Division I college prospect in his own right, was asked if Rabb can handle the attention that's bound to come his way. "He can handle it all," Austin said. "He's got everything physically and mentally to make it big."

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